The American Hotel & Lodging Association and STR released a special report, “Distribution Channel Analysis: a Guide for Hotels,” published by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International, to assist hotels in determining their optimal channel mix. The report discusses the effects of channel mix on profitability and what the industry can expect in the near term in the distribution landscape. It reviews the size an...

Ian Schrager’s New York office is filled with “stuff.” Categorized stacks of papers, photos, newspaper clippings, notebooks, folders, binders, picture frames, and other little treasures line the shelves around the perimeter of the room. Photos of city buildings, interior design renderings, and portraits hang with pushpins on the white walls. Design display boards lean against an armchair, next to Post-it note-covered paperwork on the floor. It’s cluttered, but it’s a neat kind of cluttered, a meticul...

Music has the power to increase guest satisfaction and improve staff morale. Just ask 25-year-old Bradley Newberger, president and founder of Ambiance Radio, a background music service geared toward hotels, resorts, restaurants, and spas. While a student at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca, N.Y., Newberger managed the Taverna Banfi at The Statler Hotel on campus. The newly renovated restaurant looked great, says th...

Dorothy Dowling, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Best Western International, believes that relationships are the currency of life. In our fast-paced world, the Internet has changed how consumers decide what to buy. Despite this shift, Dowling has found one important factor remains the same: “People do business with people they know and like.” During her spee...

It’s not all about the money. In order to be successful, businesses must concentrate instead on the very thing that makes the money, said hospitality industry legend Horst Schulze, the keynote speaker at the Red Roof Inn 2011 brand conference, which was held earlier this week in Orlando. The president and CEO of West Paces Hotel Group and former president and COO of Ritz-Carlton said that to beat the competition, hotels must offer a pr...

Many Americans consider breakfast the most important meal of the day, and are becoming more health conscious. For this reason, Ron Pohl, senior vice president of brand management and member services for Best Western International, says breakfast has been a key focus for many years in the hotel industry, especially in the midscale market. For an upcoming article on breakfast bars and buffets (look for it in the September issue of Lodging ), I inquired about the latest industry trends. What cu...

Is social media only a marketing function, or can other departments across hotels take advantage of it? When SAS Institute announced its social media analytics about a year ago, Kelly McGuire began thinking about how revenue management could use social media. McGuire, executive director of hospitality and travel global practice for SAS, says she always sees things through a revenue management lens first. To tackle this question, she got together with a group of colleagues from her Ph.D. program at Cornel...

As Motel 6 continues to grow rapidly by about 70 properties a year, the brand hopes to strike a balance between its company-owned and franchised locations. That’s why starting in September, Motel 6/Studio 6 will combine management and subsidiary training, says Dean Savas, senior vice president of franchising for Accor North America. “We realize there’s got to be a synergy between the management and the infrastructure we have in place for our subsidiary properties and that which we have in place f...

For the July cover story of Lodging , I spoke with Red Roof Inn President Andrew Alexander and CEO of Accor North America, Motel 6 and Studio 6, Olivier Poirot about how economy brands are repositioning themselves . Midscale properties also are in refresh mode. Choice Hotels International’s Sleep Inn brand, which competes in the lower-mid tier of the midscale ...

As we posted in the news section of our site on June 22, Home2 Suites by Hilton officially opened its third mid-tier extended-stay property in Baltimore, Md. Prior to the announcement, I had discussed the progress of the brand with Bill Duncan, the global head of brand management of Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites by Hilton, while at the Asian American Hotel Owners Association ...

While at the 33rd annual NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference this week, I had the chance to meet with several industry executives who expressed optimistic outlooks for the future. B Hotels & Resorts announced on Monday its yet-to-be named second property, which is a conversion of the Continental Oceanfront South Beach Hotel in Miami, Fla. The property is expected to remain operational during the renovation and repositioning and is scheduled to launch in late f...

While at the HD Expo last week in Las Vegas, I had the chance to sit down with Erin Hoover, the vice president of design for Westin and Sheraton, and discuss the new guestroom designs that are in the process of rolling out. While Westin’s design focuses on bringing the wellness concept into the guestroom, Sheraton’s look nods to the brand’s heritage and centers on the “social guest.” The first Westin hotels to feature the new guestroom designs are Westin Phoenix, which opened in March, an...

To strengthen AmericInn’s identity as America’s Welcoming Neighbor, owners, managers, and other attendees of the brand’s annual convention in Las Vegas filled nearly 350 care packages for American troops. The AmericInn Cares Project was a joint effort with the Blue Star Mothers of Southern Nevada, a nonprofit organization comprised primarily of mothers who have or have had children serving in the American military. “Sometimes people in our business are accused of idea du jour, and constantly...